What Causes Low Airflow in an Air Conditioner?

Cooling season starts early in our neck of the woods, and chances are you’re using your air conditioners on a fairly regular basis. That makes this a good time to check for any problems the air conditioning might be having: any sign that differs from the accustomed sounds and features of your system. When that happens, you should shut your system off and call in a repair technician immediately. It could save you a great deal of money in unnecessary repairs, and possibly prevent a small problem from turning into a big one.

Among the most common signs of air conditioning trouble – at least with common forced-air centralized air conditioners – are a reduction in the air flow out of the vents. This is a problem because it reduces the effectiveness of the air conditioner: forcing it to work harder to do its job. Over time, the costs of running it will go up and the chances of a more serious breakdown will rise. Spotting low air flow from your vents is one of the easiest and most straightforward ways to identify a problem before it gets out of hand. Spring makes an especially good time because you aren’t yet using your air conditioner as often as you will, and can afford to leave it off for a bit while the technician looks it over.

The Causes

Problems with air flow tend to stem from two general sources: either something is blocking the flow of air or something is reducing the power that’s doing the blowing. In the former case, you’re often looking at damage to the ducts, such as crimps or leaks. You might also have a clogged filter (which is easy enough to replace), or a similar blockage somewhere in the system. If the problem only affects one or two vents instead of the whole house, it can likely be found somewhere in the ducts instead of the central system itself.

In the latter case, you’re probably having some kind of fan-based trouble, which can involve the fan belt, fan motor, or perhaps the fan blades themselves. Either way, there simply isn’t sufficient power to blow the cool air through your ducts, cutting down on efficiency and raising the strain on the rest of the system. Until it’s treated, your system will run an ever-increasing chance of a breakdown.

Additional Problems

There can be more dire repercussions to reduced air flow than a loss of efficiency. Cool air backing up in the system can cause frost to form on the coils, which form a huge drag on the system’s efficiency. It also increases the strain on the air conditioner’s other components, and could quickly result in another breakdown in short order.

Regardless, the problem tends to cascade as time goes on, the issue grows more untenable, and when the breakdown finally does occur, it’s apt to be larger and more expensive than it might be otherwise.